Weftless fabric



B. H. FOSTER WEFTLESS FABRIC Dec. 5, 1933.

Fil ed July 7, 1930 INVENTOR .Bowiwell 1111 06562" ATTORNY Patented Dec. 5, 1933 UNITED STATES WEFTLESS FABRIC Boutwell H. Foster, Maplewood, N. L, assignor to Morgan & Wright, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application July 7, 1930. Serial No. 466,080

9 Claims.

This invention relates to an improvement; in methods and apparatus for manufacturing weftless cord fabric.

In the rubber industry weftless cord fabric is used for many purposes and is made with different numbers of cords per inch of width ac-.

cording to the particular requirements of the article in which the fabric is to be used. In constructing a weftless cord fabric, the cords are 10 generally fed from a creel, through a comb,

of the adhesive between the cords owing to vibration caused by the tension of the cords and turning or twisting thereof while being processed. The effect is sometimesreferred to as dancing.

While it is usually possible with previous equipment to evenly lay cords, for instance, having a diameter of .033 wherein the spacing between cords is of approximately .005 and the cords crowded together, for instance, at the rate of 26.3 per inch of width, such cords could not for rotating the series of drums to continuously feed the cords through the bath 7 and around the drying cans 10. Preferably the apparatus is driven by the drum 9 which is connected to a source of power (not shown). The bath '7 may comprise any suitable adhesive solution, such as a natural or artificial dispersion of latex compounded either with or without vulcanizing ingredients and having the proper tack to hold the cords upon the backing 11.

In former equipment, the cords were unsupported for an appreciable distance between an adhesive applying or latex bath and the first shell or roll upon which they were laid, in which unsupported distance conslderable vibration and twisting of the cords occurred. This action, sometimes referred to as dancing, caused uneven spacing of the cords as they were laid upon the roll and applied to a backing. The film of adhesive between cords was also occasionally broken down. In order to overcome vibration and/or twisting of the cords, the shell or drum 9, in the present invention, is disposed, as indicated at 12, immediately adjacent the supporting roll 8 which carries the cords 3 through the bath. Consequently, as the cords leave the drum 8, they are immediately laid upon the drum 9, and vibration and/or twisting is practically eliminated, since the cords are engaged substantially be evenly spaced and uniformly bonded where continuously by the drums 8 and 9. As the cords the number of cords per inch was somewhat less, for instance, 21.8 to 23.3 per inch, due to the vibration and twisting referred to.

To insure even spacing of the cords, I provide apparatus in which vibration and/or twisting of the cords is substantially eliminated. Consequently, the cords may be spaced evenly upon the usual fabric backing, and proper spacing and bonding maintained at all times irrespective of the number of cords laid per inch, within working limits.

For a detailed understanding of my invention, reference. is made to the following specification and the accompanying drawing which is a diagrammatic view of apparatus embodying my in-, vention.

Referring to the drawing, the reference character 1 indicates generally a creel having a series of spools 2 from which a plurality of cords 3 may be led between a pair of rollers 4, through a comb 5, downwardly over a roller 6, and through an adhesive bath 7, such as rubber latex or other dispersion of rubber. In passing through the bath 7, the cords 3 are supported upon a drum 8 and are then fed on to an iron shell or drum- 9. From the drum 9 the cords proceed over and under a series of steam heated drying cans or drums l0, and a fabric backing 11 is fed in between the first drying can 10 and the drum 9 beneath the cords 3. Any suitable means may be provided leave the bath 7, they may be pressed against the drum 8 by means of a roller 13, in the direction of the arrow 14. Roller 13 slightly flattens 'the cords, so that as they proceed around with the roll 8 and on to the iron shell or drum 9, any tendency of the cords to'twist is further reduced.

The first drying can or drum 10 is positioned immediately adjacent the drum 9, as indicated at 15, so that the cords 3 are substantially continuously in contact with bearing surfaces from the time they leave the coating bath 7 until the backing 11 is applied. The machine may be constructed so that the backing is applied at other points along the run if desired. Also, the latex or other coating may be applied by other suitable ways.

By thus supporting the cords during processing, even spacing and bonding thereof is assured irrespective of the number of cords laid per inch of width.

It is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the arrangement of apparatus and the method followed without departing from the principles of the invention, and it is therefor not intended to impose limitations other than as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. In the method of manufacturing a weftless cord fabric, the steps comprising providing a plurality of parallel cords, applying a coating solution to the cords, drying the cords and preventing substantial relative movements between the cords in the interim between the coating and drying operations.

2. In the method of manufacturing a weftless cord fabric, the steps comprising providing a plurality of parallel cords, applying a coating solution to the cords, applying a backing, restraining the cords against relative movements between the coating operation and the application of the backing, and drying the cords.

3. A method of manufacturing weftless cord fabric, which consists in passing a plurality of cords in parallelism around a series of drums, coating the cords, applying a backing to the coated cords, and preventing substantial vibration and/or twisting of said cords between the coating thereof and the application of the backing.

4. A method of manufacturing weftless cord fabric, which consists in running a plurality of cords in parallelism around a series of drums, running the cords through a coating solution,

applying a backing to the coated cords, preventing vibration and/or twisting of the cords between the application of the coating solution and the application of the backing, and then drying the cords on the backing.

5. An apparatus for manufacturing weftless cord fabric comprising a series of drums bearing a run of cords in parallelism, means for applying a coating solution to the cords, and means for applying a backing to the coated cords, said cords being in substantially continuous contact with a bearing surface between the coating means and a point at which the backing is applied.

6. An apparatus for manufacturing weftless cord fabric comprising a series of drums for a run of cords in parallelism, means for applying a coating solution to the cords, means for applying a backing to the cords, said drums being arranged to maintain said cords in contact with the drum surfaces substantially continuously between the coating means and the backing, and a series of drying cans over which the cords proceed after the application of the backing. p

7. An apparatus for manufacturing weftless cord fabric comprising a series of drums for a run of cords in parallelism, a coating solution into which one of said drums dips the cords, said series including a second drum whose cord-carrying surface is disposed immediately adjacent the cord carrying surface of the dipping drum, whereby the cords are supported substantially continuously during transfer of the cords from the dipping drum to the second drum, means for applying a backing to the coated cords between the second drum and a third drum, and means for drying the combined fabric and cords.

9. An apparatus for manufacturing weftless cord fabric comprising a series of drums bearing a run of cords in parallelism, and means for applying a coating solution to the cords at one of the drums, each succeeding drum being arranged to substantially immediately support the coated cords as they leave the preceding drum throughout the series.

BOUTWELL H. FOSTER. 

